College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2021 43 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES Researchers at SARChI Industrial Development produced many outputs during 2021, including from our postdocs and international research associates. Our team collectively published 43 journal articles and 18 book chapters. We also produced a research report for the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), titled Innovation and socio-economic development challenges in South Africa: An overview of indicators and trends. 2021 saw the launch of our Working Paper series and Policy Brief series intended to disseminate research and to stimulate rigorous policy debate and identify collaborative policy-orientated solutions through new knowledge. Twelve working papers and four policy briefs were published during 2021. 2021 also saw the publication of two major volumes co-edited by Prof Tregenna and published by Oxford University Press: The Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy (co-edited by Oqubay, Tregenna and Valodia), and Structural Transformation in South Africa: The Challenges of Inclusive Industrial Development in a Middle-Income Country (co-edited by Andreoni, Mondliwa, Roberts and Tregenna). SUSTAINABILITY, INNOVATION AND FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) Many of our activities – in research, capacity building, and public and policy engagement – are centred around these themes of sustainability, innovation and the 4IR. We approach issues of sustainability largely in relation to green industrialisation and green industrial policy: what feasible development pathways can meet the dual objectives of industrialisation and environmental sustainability? Innovation and the 4IR were animating themes of a number of activities during 2021, including primary surveys, research papers, the digital research sprint, and various public events. Many of these initiatives engage with the relationships between innovation, technological upgrading and industrial development; and with the patterns, possibilities, and prospects of 4IR technologies for industrialisation, growth and development. Our NRF-funded project, the Community of Practice in Industrialisation and Innovation, explored how innovation contributes to industrialisation, inclusive growth and development in South Africa, Africa and developing countries more widely. CoP research was organised around seven research themes: • Sub-sectoral dimensions of industrialisation and deindustrialisation internationally. • The effects of the 4IR on South African manufacturing firms, and firm-level and policy responses. • Innovation and performance of small and micro manufacturing firms. • Learning, capabilities and industrialisation. • Climate change, industrial development, a just transition and green industrial policy. • Developmental outcomes of innovation, industrialisation and structural change. • Urban and spatial aspects of innovation and industrialisation. We worked on three primary surveys during 2021, producing valuable new data as a basis for research and policy. Firstly, a survey on digitalisation in South African manufacturing firms, which was completed in partnership with the IDTT, with research papers using the data currently in progress. Secondly, we undertook preparatory work towards the second wave of our survey on innovation among micro and small manufacturing enterprises in Johannesburg, for which we will be going into the field in early 2022. Thirdly, we continued with our ‘deep dive’ research in the adoption and impact of 4IR technologies among firms in selected sectors of the South African economy. While these three surveys utilise different methodologies and levels of analysis, they all shed light on related issues of innovation, 4IR technologies, upgrading, and performance among South African firms. With our visiting professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, we ran an exciting Research Sprint on Digital Sovereignty in Africa, in collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, with funding from the Mercator Foundation. The Research Sprint is hosted within the framework of the Ethics of Digitalisation project run by the Alexander von Humboldt Prof Arkebe Oqubay Professor of Practice
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